New Engineering Foundation

The Future of STEM Education in Scotland

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The New Engineering Foundation is to hold a forum for senior managers and STEM curriculum leaders from Scottish colleges. Taking place at the IoD, Glasgow, on Thursday 15 March, the event will feature speakers and discussion covering:
- skills for emerging technologies and employer engagement opportunities
- accessing funding
- successful transition to new funding and qualifications
- developing STEM partnerships.
Speakers include Sa'ad Medhat, CEO of the New Engineering Foundation, plus senior figures from the Scottish education system (tbc).
The event is free, and runs from 9am-1.30pm with lunch included.
Places to be booked with Dean.Weston@thenef.org.uk

NEF supports the Military Education Committee at the University of London

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NEF Directors Professor Sa’ad Medhat and Michelle Medhat and Trustee Dan Fox met several Officer Cadets at a Military Education Committee reception last night, at the University of London’s Senate House. The reception was held to mark the achievements of young people progressing through the University of London Royal Naval Unit, Officers’ Training Corps and London Air Squadron. HRH The Princess Royal, Chancellor of the University of London, Royal Honorary Colonel of the OTC and Royal Honorary Air Commodore of ULAS, spoke at the function and met with guests including the NEF representatives. She was impressed with NEF’s support for the organisation, a recognition of the importance of technology and engineering to the armed forces as a whole.

Michelle Medhat said:

“We strongly support the Cadetship schemes, which not only enhance the Cadet’s technical and problem-solving skills but also develop responsibility and leadership. These are extremely valuable traits in young people.”

Photo: Princess Anne in discussion with NEF's Michelle Medhat and Sa'ad Medhat

The Engineering Diploma: our statement

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Engineering Diploma is a qualification to be championed, says NEF CEO

The Government’s review of vocational qualifications includes the Engineering Diploma in a list of around 3,000 qualifications which may not be recognised from September 2012. Creating qualifications for the sole reason of wanting to improve the league tables, but which in reality hold no credence with employers, colleges or universities is irresponsible. Learners are just wasting their time. However, vocational courses should be supported when they combine educational and economic value. The Engineering Diploma does just that, having been developed with industrialists in the last 5 years to match the skills learners and employers need. It provides robustness in delivery and contemporary, real and relevant curriculum, helping learners progress into further studies and gain a footing into a worthwhile career.

Course content of The Engineering Diploma is underpinned by academics and industrialists and is fit for purpose both economically and academically. It is not one of ‘worthless’ qualifications that Professor Wolf has described, and should not be treated as such.

The New Engineering Foundation advocates that the educational offer for 14-19 year-olds should lead young people to think and develop cognitive abilities. However, research suggests that cognitive abilities have been in decline as test scores have been rising. Clearly, a poor diet of ‘make-believe’ GCSEs or ‘dead-end’ vocational courses is not the remedy. The curriculum should reinforce the attributes and develop the abilities needed for success in life and work. This means the ‘soft skills’ for employability, and the sharper attributes for enterprise.

The key is to ensure that young people follow fewer, broader qualifications that equip them well, and in each case ‘inculcate ingenuity’. This is much easier if there is effective work in schools and colleges on careers, so that individuals can better plan their own paths from an early stage. By having robust, employer-valued vocational qualifications, parity of esteem with academic qualifications can be achieved.

We are lobbying to defend the Engineering Diploma and encourage individuals and organisations to support us. If you would like to add your voice to ours, please email me

Professor Sa'ad Medhat, Chief Executive, New Engineering Foundation

UPDATE: Professor Medhat's letter on this subject appeared in the London Evening Standard on Wednesday 1 February. You can view the Standard online here (registration required)

Nelson & Colne College awarded 'STEM Assured'

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Nelson & Colne College has been awarded STEM Assured - an industry-led quality mark - by the New Engineering Foundation (NEF) (read full news item)

Nelson & Colne College has been awarded STEM Assured - an industry-led quality mark - by the New Engineering Foundation (NEF).

The standard recognises excellence in STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths) provision within the Further Education sector, with a particular focus on industry relevance and embedding STEM skills across a range of learning areas. STEM Assured is recognised by the UK Commission for Employment & Skills (UKCES) and The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). The award reflects the Lancashire-based College’s determination to be at the forefront of STEM provision and meet the needs of local and national employers.

Dr Sarah Peers, NEF’s Director of Programmes, who led the validation process, said:
“In addition to the admirable student-centred approach of the college, there is an emphasis on progression and pathways to STEM industries. Alongside effective links with employers there were many examples of good practice to ensure science and engineering courses related to industry and up-to-date practice. The Pre-Med programme, developed to support students considering careers and opportunities in the health and medical industries was highlighted and we urge the College to extend this model to other STEM areas”.

Joan Peagam, the College’s Divisional Manager for Science, Maths and Engineering, added:
“We wish to develop further excellence in our STEM provision and we are delighted that our achievements so far are being recognised through this award.” (see also: Nelson and Colne College reacts to the award)

The Validation Panel, which included experts from FTSE 100 and leading high-technology companies, recommended that STEM Assured should be the springboard to developing an explicit strategy for STEM across the College. In this way, the STEM Assured process will lead to further improvements in a College already rated as Outstanding at its last OFSTED inspection.

Read more about Nelson and Colne College's Engineering curriculum here

Chemist, Inventor, Entrepreneur and now a Fellow

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Dr Graham Ruecroft is a co-founder and former director and CTO of Prosonix (Oxford) where he developed and co-invented a number of novel ultrasound assisted manufacturing methods for superior particles designed for respiratory medicines. He left Prosonix upon a completion of a substantial Series B fund-raising to facilitate new respiratory drug development. Prior to his work with Prosonix and its precursor, Accentus PLC, Graham held senior research and development positions in Ferring Research, Enzymatix, Chiroscience, ChiroTech, Ascot Fine Chemicals, Dow Chemical and Ultrafine.

His background includes medicinal, synthetic, chiral, process and solid-state chemistries. Graham also has considerable skills in the use of ultrasound in chemical and biochemical processing. He is currently developing a new “green” business whereby growth platform chemicals such as lactic acid can be economically produced from renewable no-food waste streams such as lignocellulose via industrial ultrasound assisted bioprocessing. Graham will be playing a key role in growing IKE’s Bioscience and Biotechnology Networking Forum.

Welcome, Graham

Dr Robert Fraser the latest IKE Fellow

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

As the Chief Technical Officer for Cloud Services at Microsoft UK, Rob’s pioneering expertise in high performance computing will invaluable to the IKE.

Rob has worked in the area of Software as a Service and Cloud Computing for 10 years, focusing on how businesses can use these technologies to create innovative products and services. He is a public advocate for cloud computing as a platform for innovation and has a passion for education and the inclusion of creativity in the curriculum.

Welcome, Rob.

Tony Moloney a Member of the IKE

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A professional engineer focused on talent development, Tony is a true innovator. As the National Grid Plc’s UK Head of Technical Learning, Development & Talent, he is responsible for skills strategy through to design, development and delivery of solutions across the business.

Tony’s focus is on developing people, the lifeblood of all businesses. His innovation leadership in this field has led to the National Grid’s Graduate Development Programme, its Foundation Degrees and its Advanced Modern Apprenticeships, which are rated Grade 1 by OFSTED and have been awarded Beacon status.

Welcome on board, Tony.

Featured Fellow – The IKE welcomes Mark Young

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

New Fellow of the IKE, Mark, of DuPont Performance Polymers, brings a wealth of practical innovation experience to the table. As Marketing Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, he leads a team responsible for marketing (involving development of technologies together with customers) and product and market innovation.

Mark takes a particular interest in Materials Technology and Process technology, with applications including Food, Healthcare, Consumer electronics, Appliances and Industrial equipment. He is looking forward to a long and fruitful association with the IKE.

Welcome on board, Mark.

Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Government announced its Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth (Dec 11). The Government considers innovation as a key enabler to the UK’s growth agenda. The Government is proposing incentives to encourage companies especially SMEs to innovate. In addition to the SME R&D Tax Credit the Government will be investing an additional £75 million to support small business innovation. New schemes such as:

SMART awards: grants that support SME research and development
Innovation Vouchers Programme: to enable small businesses to engage with universities and the wider knowledge base
Small Business Research Initiative: to help more small businesses win government contracts for their innovative products and services

From Intelligent Colleges to 3D Printing – it all happened at Innovisions 2011 - FE News

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

New Engineering Foundation's Conference Innovisions played host to just over 200 educational and industry leaders keen to discuss the future of Further Education. To read the full article, click here

A new paradigm for Further Education – The Intelligent College

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The New Engineering Foundation (NEF) is proposing a new paradigm for Further Education in the report ‘The Intelligent College’ launched at its annual conference, Innovisions, held at the Royal Society in London today (Thursday 1 December 2011).

Introducing the concept of the Intelligent College Sa’ad Medhat, Chief Executive of the NEF said, “Intelligent Colleges will no longer react to funding, inspection and national initiatives but will create the future through the dynamism of horizon-scanning, enterprise, knowledge transfer and civic leadership. Intelligent Colleges will respond to the needs of Industry rather than the demands of Government, they will utilise both their physical and intellectual assets to become an indispensible first-choice partner to employers and entrepreneurs”.

This Think-Tank report identifies the ‘golden thread’ of innovation as being at the heart of the Intelligent College and proposes eight key factors to becoming an Intelligent College:

Establishing a customer focus and identifying clear Unique Selling Propositions
Engaging in horizon scanning
Establishing a progressive Continuing Professional Development Strategy
Developing lecturers as knowledge transfer professionals
Offering real and relevant experience
Enabling flexible and contemporary learning
Ensuring recognised quality
Becoming not reliant on state funding

Although there are examples of Colleges taking this transformational approach under existing structures, the report identifies three key areas for change if real progress is to be made:
Rules governing public funding – and the constraints on innovation
The adverse consequences of inspection – risk aversion and compliance
Curriculum and qualifications – quality over quantity

The report recommends greater freedom for Colleges to use their resources more flexibly to meet employer needs and to be held to account for the impacts they have. Current funding/audit systems are said to:

…subtly but decisively drive institutions to think of their own short-term needs ahead of their real customers’ needs and priorities.

The report criticises current regimes for quality assurance and inspection as being based on processes rather than outcomes:

They tend to address the question ‘how are we performing’ rather than ‘what are we achieving'? Because they are so reliant on quantified data, they are open to manipulation and leave colleges susceptible to ‘hitting the target and missing the point’.

The report argues that funding shapes behaviour, and calls for a more consolidated and flexible funding system enabling FE providers to plan more strategically in developing their offer. Moving towards an autonomous system with diversified income streams requires FE providers to think more intelligently, whilst ensuring accountability to their stakeholders.

The report also suggests the need for an overhaul of the remit and focus of Ofsted:
Losing the straight jacket of outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate with respect to planning would be a start. The need is for inspection to be capable of understanding and assessing impact of colleges, and, the extent to which they are meeting socio-economic needs.

On the curriculum and qualifications the report says:
One of the main ‘perverse incentives’ of ‘new public management’ in colleges has been the restless pursuit of increased success rates and the associated tail of assessment wagging the curriculum dog. The curriculum itself has seen some curtailing; qualifications are taught ‘to the test’. The practice of ‘assess-assess-assess’ has inhibited progress, particularly around work-based learning which is reliant on assessing skills in the workplace. The idea is to make it much more ‘assess-train-assess’.

In his foreword of the report, Steve Holliday, Chief Executive of National Grid Plc, made clear the need for change in the FE sector. “The supply and demand of skills cannot be dealt with through the techniques, structures and cultures that were designed for an era when our economy was differently balanced and far less globalised. The Intelligent College report is a response to both the challenges and the opportunities that the future presents, by changing the conversation between stakeholders towards an innovative market-led education system.”

NEF Assured (Nuclear) Status for Magnox

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Magnox Ltd has achieved the NEF Assured (Nuclear) Standard. The Standard, recognised by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, provides an independent validation of an organisation’s approach to learning, training and talent development.

Magnox Ltd, a company owned by EnergySolutions, is responsible for the management and operations of 10 nuclear liceneds sites in the UK – on behalf of their owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

The work covers electricity generation at Wylfa, Oldbury and Maentwrog, defuelling at Chapelcross, Dungeness A and Sizewell A, and the decommissioning of Hunterston A, Berkeley, Hinkley Point A, Bradwell and Trawsfynydd. The work at Bradwell and Trawsfynydd is being accelerated to support a move to an earlier than planned care and maintenance date.

Magnox Ltd was recognised alongside other companies including: Sellafield ltd, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, Research Sites Restoration Ltd and AREVA RMC at a ceremony in Westminster attended by the Skills Minister, John Hayes.

Dr Sarah Peers NEF’s Director of Programmes, said: “We are delighted to extend the NEF Assured (Nuclear) award status to Magnox Ltd. Their commitment to ensuring consistent standards of training throughout their sites is exemplary”.

The NEF’s Validation Panel commended Magnox on their Performance Management and SQEP (Suitably Qualified and Experienced Persons) processes which were highly robust and address both learner and organisation needs. Magnox has demonstrated innovative practices to training and development, including the deployment of a mock-up simulator at Bridgwater College that provides an opportunity to train in realistic but safe conditions.

“It is a business priority to ensure that our people are competent and that we support and develop them to be the best they can. The NEF Assured process made us take time to look at our strategy, organisation and processes. There are lot of things that we do well but we need to ensure we continuously improve standards and drive innovation. Going through the NEF Assured (Nuclear) Standard, the most powerful part was the validation visit by the NEF Advisory team as it required interviews with line managers, learning and development specialists and end users, as this is how you find out whether the strategy we put in place really worked” said Brendan Daly, Head of Learning & Development (Technical, Standards & Compliance), Magnox Ltd.

By gaining NEF Assured (Nuclear) status, Magnox’s training will be recognised as an employer assured provider of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear. The Standard helps successful companies to benchmark their training and talent development, and enables them to demonstrate clear impact measures at both organisational and sector levels.

AREVA RMC Ltd has been awarded NEF Assured (Nuclear) status in recognition of their exemplary practice towards training

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The NEF and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear are pleased to announce that Risk Management Consulting Ltd (AREVA RMC) has become the first supply chain organisation to be awarded NEF Assured (Nuclear) status in recognition of their dedication to training in development to ensure safe working practices in the nuclear sector.

As an organisation operating in a tightly regulated industry, AREVA RMC provides high hazard safety and environmental risk assessment to the nuclear industry to allow it to meet regulatory demands. In recognition of their critical work for the nuclear industry, AREVA RMC was recognised at the Inaugural NEF Assured Award Ceremony held at Church House, Westminster on the 25th of October 2011.

AREVA RMC not only ensures the qualification of their staff but goes above and beyond to encourage innovation through career development opportunities for their employees. AREVA RMC has put in place a structured approach to training and development to ensure all staff are suitably qualified and experienced (SQEP). The Advisers noted the AREVA RMC competency database, which together with the appraisal system enable individuals to easily identify areas that they want/need to develop. The Advisers commend AREVA’s RMC’s People Review, which helps to identify emerging talent, areas for development and supports succession planning.

“AREVA RMC has demonstrated a dedication to continuous improvement within their training and development and we are happy to award them NEF Assured (Nuclear) status.” Iain Nixon, NEF Adviser

As a risk management consultancy, AREVA RMC also delivers training to the nuclear industry. AREVA RMC is now seeking to expand its external training provision, by drawing on its in-house expertise and existing courses.

“It was a very good review process of our internal training. As a member of the nuclear supply chain, it helped to see outside the market. The next step is to know how to address external training.” Helen Higgs, Marketing and HR Director, AREVA RMC

By gaining NEF Assured (Nuclear) status, AREVA RMC’s training department will be recognised as an employer assured provider of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear. This is the first step in enabling AREVA RMC’s in external training to be aligned to and benchmarked against employer-led and agreed Industry Training Standards on the Nuclear Skills Passport system.

“By gaining NEF Assured (Nuclear) accreditation, training departments are demonstrating their commitment to high quality skills delivery. “ Jean Llewellyn, Chief Executive, National Skills Academy Nuclear

The NEF and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear congratulates AREVA RMC on their achievement and their exemplary approach to developing their workforce.

Julie Byrne, Fellow of the IKE interviewed by the Sheffield Telegraph

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Principal Julie Byrne, Sheffield City College and Founding Fellow of the NEF Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange spoke about the Institute launch event and working with the NEF.

She said “This has involved developing greater innovation, and knowledge exchange and skills for our staff and students, particularly in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas of the curriculum.”

Article from the Sheffield Telegraph

Outstanding Training Practice in the Nuclear Sector Recognised

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Key players in the nuclear sector came together on the evening of 25 of October 2011 at Westminster to honour training excellence across the sector at the Inaugural NEF Assured (Nuclear) Awards Ceremony. The NEF Assured (Nuclear) Standard is awarded to companies in the nuclear sector. It recognises the need for continuous improvement and for training to impact directly on business objectives. The need for consistency in training and the transferability of skills comes at a critical time of ever increasing demand for energy and uncertainties surrounding the future of the nuclear industry.

Jean Llewellyn OBE, Chief Executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear gave a historical account of the nuclear sector in the UK stating that “the nuclear industry is one of such historical significance, in which public opinion has a major impact.” The Standard could help to alleviate concerns from the public and is referred to as “innovative and dynamic in meeting the changing needs of the sector.”

The keynote address was delivered by John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning. He highlighted the need to focus on sectors that exemplify a high-tech profile and the increasing need for a skilled workforce in the nuclear sector. The UK alone needs 5000 workers to build each of its eight nuclear power stations and 1000 workers to maintain them.

He stated:
“I am proud that in this country, we have developed a sound, safe and secure nuclear capability, and through advances in innovation and new technology, the UK has proven to be an exemplar in this field. The key is making nuclear power as safe as it can possibly be and the answer to this can be found in the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and the work they are doing with the NEF in assuring training delivery.”

With the knowledge that the UK can lead the global nuclear renaissance with over 44,000 people currently working in the civil nuclear industry and with 50 years of nuclear experience, the NEF and its partner the National Skills Academy for Nuclear are committed to assuring consistency of training delivery in this dynamic sector of growth.

Brendan Daly from Magnox Ltd, formed from the recent merger of Magnox North and Magnox South, gave an account of the NEF Assured (Nuclear) process. He stated that“It is our business priority that our people are competent and we support them as best we can. There are a lot of things that we do well and we need to grow good practice, especially the innovation aspect. Going through the NEF Assured (Nuclear) Standard, the most powerful part was the validation visit as it required interviews with line managers, training and development specialists and end users and it was here that we found out whether all the strategies we put in place really worked.”

The Skills Minister conferred the awards on the successful companies from across the UK. Magnox Ltd, having just been named as the national ‘Winner of the Year’ in the Macro Category in the National Training Award in recognition of its work to train local people in radiological protection, was the first site-license company to receive NEF Assured (Nuclear) award status. Research Sites Restoration Ltd was honoured for achieving consistency in training across multiple sites. Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd was recognised for its commitment to reskilling their employees at a site currently being decommissioned. Sellafield’s exemplary practice in training and development, and their embedded ethos of continuous improvement, was highlighted. Particularly noteworthy was Areva RMC’s People Review, which helps to identify emerging talent, areas for development and supports succession planning.

The NEF's Chief Executive said, "Our independent role in validating the consistency of training and talent development provides the sector with confidence and suggested interventions for continuous improvement. Our partnership with NSAN to support the nuclear sector has proved to be very effective."

A Celebration of Innovation at NEF IKE Launch

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The worlds of education, invention, business and industry came together last night (5 October) at the Royal Society, London to launch of the NEF Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE). A glistening array of speakers from across sectors and countries joined Professor Sa’ad Medhat, CEO of IKE, to deliver speeches that stimulated the mind and challenged the status quo. Dr Rosie Bryson, Chair of IKE and Development Manager at BASF Plc identified that nature often holds the key to problems we face. Detailing how a little fungus found in pine forests led to innovations that increased corn maize yields by up to 40%. Dr Bryson added that’ innovations don’t just happen, they come from something else, you have to look at things from a different perspective, take the knowledge from the customers, from nature, from colleagues and build upon this – but innovation is essential, for without it, we wouldn’t survive.’

Mark Young, EMEA Marketing Manager at DuPont, echoed Dr Bryson in saying that ‘innovation is at the cross-over point between disciplines, sectors and companies, it is there that innovative ideas emerge. Our planet’s population is increasing – 9 billion by 2050; the problems such as food security, energy security and health protection are massive. Collaboration, even between competitors is the only way to solve these problems – great things happen when we all work together’.

Professor Mario Cardullo, Chairman Cardullo Innovations Group, inventor of the RFID and former US Councillor and Technology Innovation Adviser flew in from Washington DC to deliver his speech about innovation, technology and venture capital. In his words, ‘only 1 in 5,000 new business plans invested in produce ‘star products’, but failure is something the world’s biggest entrepreneurs have had to face, and as result have grown better’. Professor Cardullo added, ‘we shouldn’t be afraid of failure, we shouldn’t penalise failure, we should embrace it, for only then can we really appreciate what innovation is all about.’

An amazing insight into the Cloud was provide by Dr Rob Fraser, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft, who showed that the Cloud was levelling the playing fields across the world, and that organisations of any size were accessing computing power, applications and services that were formerly the sole preserve of giants. Providing computing power on a massive scale – Dr Fraser said ‘petabytes were thrown around like before megabytes had been.’ Don’t know what a petabyte is – Dr Fraser helped the audience to visualise: ‘image a stack of CDs stacked 2.5 kilometres high – that’s a petabyte!’ Cloud computing makes the internet of things, the devices we connect to in our everyday lives, come alive with opportunities to enable innovation. As devices become more intelligent and software ‘mash-ups’ become common place, devices will be able to communicate in real time to provide solutions for everyday travel. Rob added, ‘I’m still waiting for tube trains to communicate the number of passengers and their destinations, so that one train stays on the platform for an extra 10 seconds to allow passengers to change trains – intelligent travel around London – that would be an innovation!’

Mark Champkins, Founder of Concentrate, Inventor in Residence at the Science Museum, and winner of Peter Jones’ support in the Dragon’s Den, wowed the audience with his range of innovative products to help children concentrate, including a water bottle cover that doubled as a pencil case. Although, the way in which he broke into the mainstream retail was an innovation in itself. Mark explained that ‘by placing his products on store shelves next to bottled water, he was able to create the vision for the buyer as to how point of sale would look’. A risky strategy that involved ‘running the gauntlet of the guards’ as Mark put it, but through persistence and some 274 emails later, Concentrate broke into John Lewis, and is now selling its range of products.

Prof Medhat summed up the feeling of the evening: ‘innovation requires investment, by governments, organisations and individuals, and only by investment in both the tangible – the buildings, infrastructure and equipment, and the intangible – the education, skills and talent development, can we really achieve wealth creation and greater social wellbeing for all.”

For more information on IKE, and how to join please visit www.theike.org

A celebration of innovation at NEF launch of the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The worlds of education, invention, business and industry came together last night (5 October) at the Royal Society, London to launch of the NEF Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE).

A glistening array of speakers from across sectors and countries joined Professor Sa’ad Medhat, CEO of IKE, to deliver speeches that stimulated the mind and challenged the status quo. Dr Rosie Bryson, Chair of IKE and Development Manager at BASF Plc identified that nature often holds the key to problems we face. Detailing how a little fungus found in pine forests led to innovations that increased corn maize yields by up to 40%. Dr Bryson added that’ innovations don’t just happen, they come from something else, you have to look at things from a different perspective, take the knowledge from the customers, from nature, from colleagues and build upon this – but innovation is essential, for without it, we wouldn’t survive.’

For more information on IKE please visit theike.org.

Sellafield Ltd has been awarded NEF Assured (Nuclear) status in recognition of their exemplary practice towards training

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The NEF and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear are pleased to announce that Sellafield Ltd has become the fourth organisation to be awarded NEF Assured (Nuclear) status in recognition of their exemplary practice in training and development, and their embedded ethos of continuous improvement.

“Through the NEF Assured (Nuclear) process Sellafield Ltd demonstrated exceptional commitment and foresight in every component of the standard, and in particular, in the development and implementation of its Skills Strategy.” Iain Nixon, NEF Adviser

The Advisers commended Sellafield Ltd on their systematic and careful monitoring of sectoral trends, as well as the internal needs of the business, which helped to ensure their training strategies and plans were well focused. They added that the means by which Sellafield has strived to identify the secondary skills of its employees, thus enabling potential new role and career development opportunities to emerge, was particularly noteworthy. They also noted Sellafield’s positive response towards taking on board the recommendations made for continuous improvement.

A culture of innovation at Sellafield Ltd has led to the training function establishing a Controlled Area Training facility that provides a valuable simulated environment for the core radiological training and to the organisation embracing e-learning to support the delivery of more cost effective training interventions.

Sellafield has a strong history of setting benchmarks for the nuclear sector, nationally and internationally. These benchmarks are cross-sectoral and extend to encompass the rail and petro-chemical sectors. It is clear that in Sellafield receiving this standard, their impact on the nuclear sector, as well as other adjacent sectors, can only grow even stronger.

“Sellafield Ltd values training and strives to ensure the relevance and quality of our training provision. The NEF Assure benchmark is a welcome independent recognition of our achievement of exemplary standards.” David McNerney, Director of Human Resources, Sellafield

By gaining NEF Assured (Nuclear) status, Sellafield’s training department will be recognised as an employer assured provider of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear. This is the first step in enabling Sellafield’s in house training to be aligned to and benchmarked against employer-led and agreed Industry Training Standards on the Nuclear Skills Passport system.

The NEF and the National Skills Academy for Nuclear congratulates Sellafield on their achievement and their exemplary approach to developing their workforce.

About NEF Assured (Nuclear)

NEF Assured (Nuclear) is the industry specific standard for assuring deliverers of training in the nuclear sector. The standard provides a highly valuable independent validation of an organisation’s approach to learning, training and talent development, which is recognised by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear. This outcome focused standard is the first step in enabling member organisations to have in house training aligned to and benchmarked against employer-led and agreed Industry Training Standards on the Nuclear Skills Passport system. NEF Assured (Nuclear) recognises the need for continuous improvement and for training to impact directly on business objectives. A number of organisations such as Magnox North, Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) and Research Sites Restoration Limited (RSRL) have all successfully achieved the NEF Assured (Nuclear) standard.

The Institute of IKE announces Julie Byrne as a Founding Fellow

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Julie is the Principal of Sheffield City College and Executive Director at The Sheffield College and has been key in establishing enterprise and innovation in the region. Sheffield City College (SCC) is home to the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy that offers courses in enterprise and entrepreneurship. The distinctive and exciting Signature Curriculum at SCC promotes vocational excellence, enterprise and innovation, progression, professionalism and internationalism. The College has embraced the government’s agenda for change to strengthen UK enterprise. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals together with The Sheffield College form the Health & Social Care Academy; an innovative five year strategic partnership to drive forward ways to up-skill healthcare professionals. The Sheffield College is currently leading the city’s bid to develop a University Technical College for Advanced Manufacture and the Creative and Digital Industries.

Julie’s key sectors of interest are Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, Digital and Creative Industries and Enterprise and Entrepreneurs.

The IKE wishes to extend a warm welcome to Julie as a founding Fellow of the Institute.

The NEF agrees with Google's Schmidt

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Prof Sa'ad Medhat responded to Eric Schmidt's Mactaggart lecture speech to the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Read the Huffington Post article here.